An Orillia man’s viral Facebook post has renewed interest in Leamington tomatoes and the devastating loss of the town’s Heinz plant — plus a new ketchup that is helping to turn things around.

Brian Fernandez was grocery shopping when he noticed a few bottles of French’s ketchup on a bottom shelf, squeezed beneath four rows of Heinz.

His family loves French’s mustard but had never heard of its ketchup.

He thought he’d do some Internet research before picking which one to buy, but the first article that came up was not what he’d expected to see: Heinz pulling out of Leamington; 740 jobs gone; plant to close.

“I didn’t even know there was a town called Leamington,” he said. He was shocked such a big company could stop using Canadian ingredients and he hadn’t heard about it.

The next day, he picked up French’s ketchup — made from tomatoes grown in Leamington and processed into tomato paste in the same plant Heinz (now Kraft Heinz) once operated.

Highbury Canco Corp. took over the plant in June 2014 and later signed a contract with French’s.

The company has promised to use only local tomatoes in ketchup sold in Canada, said French’s president Elliott Penner. “We think that Leamington tomatoes are great quality.”

Canadians like the move, he said. “We were pretty surprised how emotional people were. They were pretty gung ho about it.”

Fernandez wasn’t convinced right away. First, his family had to do a blind taste test to be sure they liked the Canadian ketchup. Test one was with the finger. The second round tasted the ketchup on a French fry.

“Every one of us chose French’s,” he said. Plus they liked the use of natural sugar and pronounceable ingredients.

Fernandez posted his support for the French’s ketchup on Facebook last Tuesday, along with the reasons he would pick it over Heinz.

“We bought a bottle. Absolutely love it!!” he wrote in his post. “Bye. Bye. Heinz.”

Since Heinz decided to pull the plug on its Canadian plant in Leamington, 740 jobs were lost. Heinz decided to make its...

“It’s really good for our municipality and for the local farmers,” said Leamington Mayor John Paterson. “I’m certainly happy to read and see such a strong support for it.”

Sam Diab, president and co-owner of Highbury Canco, said it’s encouraging to see passion for local products, especially as the company tries to compete with lower-priced tomatoes from California.

“I think that’s a testament to the growers in the area and to our facility and decades and decades of workers making tomato paste in our facility their whole lives,” he said.

Both Diab and Penner said there’s potential French’s could buy triple the volume of tomato paste this year.

Penner, a native of Cambridge, said he knew about Leamington and its tomatoes. French’s is also working with the University of Guelph to improve its ketchup’s taste and ingredients.

Fernandez said he never planned for the post to go viral. The 49-year-old construction worker felt sympathy for those affected by the Heinz closure and wanted share his appreciation of French’s decision to step in.

He said he’s thrilled to see so much support for Canadian products. He’s received hundreds of messages.

Some, from Leamington and St. Mary’s, tell intimate stories of loss and struggle after the closure of their Heinz plants. One woman made Fernandez’s wife Ann-Marie cry with her story about how a contract with Highbury Canco saved her family’s tomato farm.